Dressabelle

I'm superrrrr in love with my first purchase from Dressabelle. This dress is gorgeous and the cut is super flattering, albeit tight though haha (who asked me to buy S?!). And the material very flattering!!

They had initially sold out after the launch, but I requested to be notified if they had more stock.. and lucky me! I think perhaps there were deadbuyers who didn't pay for their item. :D

I think I'm going to have a new favourite blogshop... heehee.

Credits:
Dressabelle Sketches Print Drape Dress

Facial Foam Review

I figured that since I'm such a skincare freak, I should try my hand at beauty reviews... But then if I think about it.. I actually barely have any time to sit in front of my computer let alone time to think through and actually formulate a review on a product.

That said, I still wanted to do this for myself. I wanted to jot down my thoughts on the different products that I've tried so I know to buy or not to buy the same product again!

I want to share 2 of my current favourite facial foams. I hate those gel/menthol ones that always burn up my eyes. I have developed a preference for cream-based cleansers coz I feel they leave my skin feeling clean and moisturised at the same time!

Kose Infinity Pure Advance Clear Up Wash **favourite!**

This is currently my favourite cleanser! I use a very small amount, like half a fingernail, and it is enough for my whole face! I only need to lather it 2 rounds, and it is sufficient to remove all the dirt and oil from my face! I have had horrible cleansers that do not remove the makeup remover properly and I had to wash my face another 1-2 more times afterwards! Best part of this cleanser was my skin was left feeling clean and not dry. This is really important for me as I have sensitive skin and it gets really itchy when it is dry.

It is currently selling at most departmental stores at $43. I'm using those small free samples and I love it to bits. And since I use so little each time, I can use it for a very long time!

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Belif Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist

This cleanser from Belif comes a close second on my list of favourite cleansers. Like the above one from Kose, it has a creamy texture and is not drying. I especially love that smell of it.. If I had to pick cleanser with the best smell, this would win hands down! It cleanses very thoroughly and I use a standard amount each time to wash my face. Why this isn't taking first place is it does not have that moisturised feel that the Kose one leaves behind after washing off... But all in all it's still a pretty awesome product. 

I didn't buy this as I tried this out in a 3ml sample. They are really generous with their samples. I checked online though and it's selling for $33 at Tangs and I would assume the same price in the Belif stores.

Cheers, and I hope you enjoyed this review! 

Bloomberg Square Mile

Team photo at Bloomberg Square Mile 2013 (missing 2 peeps)

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I initially didn't want to run this race...

It was 1.6 km race costing $100 per sign up! Not to mention there was no women's category so no possibility of winning anything.

However, after seeing the enthusiastic response on the internal running channel, I felt myself being sucked into the idea. Short distances are my forte, and I always enjoy running corporate races.

By some stroke of luck, I ran into the team captain at the North Face 100 when I went to support Eric. I asked if he was still looking for people to run, and if we would have to pay the full fee. Turns out that yes, he still needed people for the team, and the fee would be subsidized $40.

Can I just say that it is so rare for my company to subsidise race fees, even if it is still freaking expensive at $60 per person, I just had to get that last slot in the team.

This was maybe 2-3 weeks ago and I was (and still am) training for a 10 km race. How was I supposed to slot in a 1.6 km training when I needed to do a lot of mileage and endurance training (vs speed training)?

I didn't really do any speed training before the race and my only prep was a recce run on the route. The route sucks balls... There were a lot of sharp bends, u-turns, steps and narrow pathways. Not ideal for a distance that depends a lot more on speed than anything else.

We sent in 2 teams, one competitive team and one fun team - each team had 10 runners. I was runner number 7 in the fun team, so by right there shouldn't have been much pressure. But I guess it's my competitive spirit and something I demanded of myself so I made sure I was fit enough for the race.

Come race day it was such a crush with 160 teams of 10 people. The roads were narrow and the waiting pen was awfully stuffy. My adrenaline levels kept spiking up and down throughout the event before I started. As the 7th runner, I had to wait approximately 40 minutes after the start of the event before I went out to race. It was horrible. I never want to be a runner so late in a relay ever again. The emcee kept raising the hype, counting down the minutes before the start... and then counting down the subsequent runners. Each time I watched a fellow team runner come in, my heart would race, as though I was the next one to go. It was bad...

By the time it was my turn to run, I had depleted my adrenaline resources. Once I received my baton, I was like comeon let's gooooooo but my legs couldn't seem to move. I felt so tired and couldn't seem to propel myself forward. After the first 200m, I finally made some progress. And it helped I had fellow runners standing on the sideline cheering me on. As it was a short race, I knew I had to keep pushing hard through the race and not slow down. It wasn't long before my throat became unbearably dry and my legs ached way before half the race was complete. I don't know how I managed to keep going the second half but I think I slowed down quite significantly.

Once on the final stretch, I knew this was it. My final push... I had to make it count somehow someway. So I kicked. Whoop it felt good going at a pace that no one was able to overtake me. I was so happy to pass on the baton and I saw I had clocked 6.12 when I checked my watch. Way above my expectations of 6.40-7.12. In fact, my official time was 6.05 and can you believe it I started berating myself for not going 6 seconds faster to clock at sub 6 timing. -.-"

See lap 7..

My team did 42nd overall which was still pretty good since we were only doing this for fun. Our first team got 3rd and we got to share their glory, taking the "winners" photos as a group and going on stage together to collect the prize. The event could have been organised a bit better though.. We were entitled to 3 drinks, 1 dessert and 1 main course, but the queue for the food after the event was horrible. There were 5 queues, all equally long and slow-moving... We queued for 40mins and the line barely moved 1 metre. You would think that they would have catered for 1600 people clamouring for food after the event right?

Some of my teammates never got to eat anything coz of the queue.

I liked that there was a post-run event and I got to hang out with the other runners from my company. We popped the champagne that we got as part of our 3rd place prize and celebrated our victory with the party music going on late into the night. 

I didn't expect to enjoy myself so much despite all the organisational hiccups... 

I would definitely do this again next year (hopefully it will be fully subsidised heehee).

One of those days

I've been having one too many of just one of those days... Days where there's so many things happening at the same time it makes me feel so lost and troubled by it all. 

Work is not exactly bad. It's just heavier.. And my sleeping problem has gotten worse. I don't know if work is the reason I'm not sleeping well or the lack of sleep is making me stressed at work. 

It's a bloody vicious cycle.

Please please please let tomorrow be better. If possible, make next week even better. 

I'm thankful though that through all this shitty-ness, I have Eric always supporting me and encouraging me. (:

Intoxiquette & The Blush Inc

I just scored some purchases from my all time favourite blogshops, Intoxiquette & The Blush Inc.

I'm soooooo broke now... heh.

I got these from Intoxiquette's launch earlier today. They're so gorgeous I couldn't help myself even though I'm over my expenditure budget for the month already!

And these from The Blush Inc at an earlier launch this month... I bought them in XS without realising the XS measurements were too tight! >_<

Luckily the ladies from The Blush Inc are super awesome and let me do an exchange provided I pay for 2-way postage, which is still a better deal than no exchange at all. (:

Can't wait can't wait!

Mr Postman please hurry...

Credits:
Intoxiquette Hibiki Floral Romper & Tinge of Surprise Collared Dress in Navy
The Blush Inc TBI Emboss Lace Pleated Dress in Navy & TBI Sofie Embroided Laser Cut Romper in White

Small wins

I met my ex-director today just one month into my new role. He asked me about my work and after a 1 minute commentary from me, he said "Wah now you know what you are talking about." 

His words don't really mean much on the surface, but I was so happy to hear that. It made me reflect on this past month and how much I have learned thus far. The clarity at which I could explain my job and how it fits in to the whole organisation and the respective responsibilities. It feels good! 

I sometimes feel so overwhelmed and lost with the tons of documents being sent to me, I never know what to read first and how to use all this information. But I guess I subconsciously piece these little bits together to form a big picture. So every document I manage to complete is a small win.. baby steps to help me excel at my job. (:

Heineken Advert

I love this advert. It made me laugh so much.

I told Eric if ever faced with such an encounter.. he would never be able to convince me to buy this. heh =P

The next chapter

I'll be leaving my team at the end of the week. And as I slowly handover things to my colleagues.. I find myself feeling strangely nostalgic and deeply satisfied at all that I've done these past 2.5 years. 

Joining the firm as a fresh grad, I was totally ignorant of office dynamics, what a bank does and the different department functions, as well as basic understanding of the structured products that my team review. 

I remember stumbling through the office politics, unintentionally offending people with things I failed to say (thank you). Slowly discovering that pointing out my mistakes to everyone was not meant to embarrass me but to teach me and everyone else how to do my work better. 

Still so much I don't know about the organisation and it's many many functions but I feel so much more informed about how things work and flow between the different teams and departments. 

I've reviewed so many different products, mostly structured rates options, that I previously thought was beyond my feeble mind's comprehension. And not only do I know how to review the trade, but I'm also able to explain (to the many new joiners to the team) on how the different products work. 

What I'm most proud of is definitely the process improvement stuff that I worked on for the better half of my time here (which I won an award for heehee). 80% of it was just writing and designing macro templates for the team to use, and the remaining 20% was liaising with internal stakeholders on existing processes to either improve or remove redundancies. The removal of redundant processes, plus the templates I created resulted in so much time savings, that we could actually reduce head count from 12 to 9. :D 

And lastly I like to think I was a fully contributing member of the team. Anything I felt that we could improve, I voiced out. Anything I required more information, I asked. I eventually got a lot of random ad-hoc duties along the way and I became the one people went to when you needed something to be done. 

Need stationery? Ask val to order. Your second monitor isn't connected? Ask val to fix it. How to add shared inbox in outlook? Ask val. Print notes? Organise team outing? Archive old emails? Everything all ask Val. I never realised how much ad-hoc responsibility I had taken up until I was clearing my old emails in my inbox yesterday. 

Yes.. There is that bone-deep contentment when I think back to my time here and see how much I have achieved for myself and my team. 

A new chapter begins next week (what a lovely bday present might I add), and I'm excited for what the future holds. 

JPM Pics & other gatherings

Okay quick entry before bedtime.. 

I'm so tired, and it has been such a hot and tiring day (Plus I did macritchie this morning).

JPM Run

Yup, I did a brief entry on this previously. I just wanted to put up the few pictures that characterized the whole experience for me. (:

Here's Eric & I celebrating our awesome timings! ♥

Here's the other person I have to thank for my awesome timing. He was so sporting, agreeing to pace me for this race so that I hit my target. His encouragement throughout the race helped loads.. I almost gave up so many times! (i look like shite here >_<)

The thing I love about this event is seeing everyone decked out in their corporate jerseys, not to mention the big showing from my company. (:

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Canopy

It's with a heavy heart that I announce that our brainchild, Royal Troika has officially closed down. It has been difficult trying to manage this with our varying schedules and respective personal commitments. 

Far from being upset, it has been a very enlightening experience and I am thankful for it. It's one thing checked off my bucket list.

And what better way to end a partnership than to go for brunch? (:

Yvonne's Smoked Duck Salad

Hq & I shared 1 eggs ben and 1 eggs royale. 

Apple Crumble that we three shared.

Much loves ♥

Whilst I was really psyched to be at a cafe where one could bring their dogs, the food was average. =/ Not sure if I would come again.. 

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Misc

Me and Bff at Hatched. Overpriced Eggs ben and horrible sausages. The food doesn't warrant any picture. 

Cross seniors gathering at Melvin's. (: Good to meet and catch up with the other old fogeys. 

Last Pic of the night.. Will miss my love loadssss when I'm in US. *whimpers*

Note to self

Note to self: NEVER EVER ask someone (namely anyone in my family) for help if I can do it myself. 

If it's not handled properly, they will often shirk responsibility, AND turn it around and say why didn't you do it yourself. 

I really don't understand it. If I agree to help with something and I screwed up.. I would most definitely apologise! My word is important and it means something! 

If only everyone thought the same way.. 

Update!

Wow it's been ages since I last updated. I just couldn't find the motivation or time to continue blogging. It's been such a whirlwind of activity since the year started, it feels like my first weekend at home with nothing to do. 

Well technically, I actually have many things to do.. But they're not pressing and aren't as time consuming as going out for gatherings and events. So anyway, I thought I'd just blog a few updates of what's been going on these few months..

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Europe

After buying round-trip tickets for $1085 to Paris during the Qatar sale last September, it was finally time for us to go in February! We bought a Eurail and traveled on first class cabins in France and Germany. Ahh the life of luxury..

We visited new places in France, revisited my old haunts in Germany, and whilst we were there, he proposed in the beautiful town of Chamonix! :D so yes, I'm officially engaged! *throws confetti* [this news is 2 months old oops]

It was quite a simple setup actually, I had mentioned to him many times before I didn't want an audience thus making his work easier for him. For the bulk of our trip, we split our accomodation costs equally, but for Chamonix, he wanted to stay in a Hotel "with a very nice view" and offered to pay for it. So I had my suspicions about this quite early hahaha. Three days before we were to go to Chamonix, I had horrible food poisoning and threw up 4x in the night. I felt damn awful. I couldn't move, couldn't pack, couldn't eat anything and I just lay on the bed wondering how we were to catch the next train into Lyon in 2 hours' time. Thankfully, that was 3 days before D-day, so by the time we got to Chamonix, I was only mildly sick with small bouts of giddiness. 

Unfortunately for ME, our esteemed hotel "with a very nice view" in Chamonix was at the top of a very steep hill. How else does one get a very nice view right?? Laden with only a handbag with the bare essentials, the walk up was one of the most painful treks I have ever undertaken. The locals said it would only take 15minutes.. bullshit! It took at least double the time, but it felt like hours. :'( Keep in mind I was still unwell. And yes, my hero was carrying our 23kg suitcase plus his heavy duty backpack. hehee. 

Upon reaching our hotel, I just collapsed on our bed in fatigue. I wasn't even hungry after hours of travelling and that horrible trek. Eric excitedly checked out the place, taking pictures of the view and nagging me to go out to the balcony to take pictures with the nice view. 

I went outside kinda guessing what was coming but not very sure how it would be presented. The camera on the tripod confirmed my suspicions.. i kept asking him if it was off.. (coz i don't like to be filmed). He sat me down and asked me to watch a video on his phone. I was so surprised coz I didn't know he knew how to make videos! It was lovely, with so many pictures of us and places we've been.. And at the end, it was a very obvious hint of a proposal. With that, he got down on one knee and gave me a tiffany box all wrapped up. I was like Ermmm You need to open the box and ask me... LOL. Awkward max..

So once he did it right, of course I said yes! (: (: (:

The ring needed to be resized so I couldn't wear it out and about. Not to mention we didn't want to attract attention as tourists. But I finally got it one month after coming back to Singapore, and I've been wearing it every day! =D 

Mum said I resized it for the wrong finger oops. I'm wearing my engagement ring on the fourth finger but owell, it's almost the same thing. (: 

The rest of our eurotrip was equally enjoyable. We stayed at Siegfried's place. He was such a sweetie bringing us to Heidelberg and Frankfurt. I got to eat my City Doner and Big Pom in Mannheim. I was so happy they were still there! And they tasted just as good as ever! Brought Eric around Munich and we ate pork knuckles and drank beer 3 nights in a row! We had such good weather in Germany.. Not like the bitter cold we had to endure in France. =/

Since being engaged and coming back to Singapore, we have a lot of things to settle. Learning more about shared finances for housing, wedding details etc. We've barely scratched the surface and it all seems so intimidating. But we have each other.. And that's all that really matters. (:

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JPM Run

I've been stressing over this race since i signed up for it early this year. I initially told myself val.. you just need to beat last year's timing. And up to the week just before the race, I had been sick, sprained my ankle, and missed 3 weeks of training for when I went to Europe. I fervently hoped that I just didn't perform too badly. I did not only do better than before, I had more than a minute improvement! I did 26:45, compared to 28:10 last year. =D One of my proudest moments ever.. and I couldn't have done it without my colleague who was so nice to pace me. (: (: (:

And this run has been leading up to my run in the US later this month. I'm really damn lucky to be granted this opportunity to go run for my company in the US. Flight and 3 nights accommodation paid for by the organizer, not to mention meals covered for the event parties. (: I've extended my trip and will be traveling with another runner from my company. We will be going Washington, Rochester (race venue), Toronto, Montreal & NYC! I've been busy preparing all my random miscellaneous stuff for the trip. Settling flights, accommodation, bus rides, visa, changing money, NOT forgetting training hard. :( What a headache.. But I'll fly in less that 2 weeks ahhh so exciting! 

Sorry my thoughts are really all over the place. =/ So many things to say, so little time! I'm rushing out now to celebrate my popo's birthday. She's this sweet old thing who doesn't remember anyone anymore, but we remember her right? So it's no excuse to treat her shabbily and not celebrate her birthday. 

2013 update! [delayed post]

Hello blog, you've been sorely missed!

It's been a whirlwind of activity all through December to January and I haven't really had much time to even upload pictures to facebook, let alone update my blog. It's nearing the end of the first month of the year, and an update is definitely due. I'll try to do up blog posts for past events as and when I have the time, but doubt I have much spare time to do so. =/

Before the pictures come up, I have some exciting news to share with everyone.

I participated in the JPM run last year and came in overall 73rd, but 5th in my company. Top 4 runners of each company would be submitted as the corporate team and my company won the women's category! Winning teams are sponsored to participate in the championships the following year in different locations. Naturally I was really upset at getting 5th and not being given the opportunity, but lucky me runner no 4 pulled out and now I get to go!!! =D Opportunities like this don't happen to everyone and I'm so psyched to be going!

If I extend my trip, I'll be going on two long trips this year. hohoho. *burning wallet*

On the flip side, I don't get to sleep in on Sunday mornings anymore moo. :( I need to drag my sorry ass to MacRitchie to get some mileage and slope training. haizzz.. And then up the intensity in March with interval training omg.

Jb trip!

I'm so so so tired but I'm in a mood to blog about my trip to jb today. So this will be a chop chop entry. =P

Jie, Eric and I took leave today to accompany mum into jb to buy new year goodies. Mum says they are cheaper there and she goes in every year to get her CNY supplies.

I had some random stuff I wanted to buy along with the CNY goodies so I got Eric to come along to be our bodyguard heehee.

We had a jap lunch where I ordered cold soba. It came with a quail's egg and I poured it onto my noodles before dipping into the sauce and it was super yummy!! I'm so suaku, to have never tried it this way before.

I bought $100 worth of stuff from their watsons store. Some items prices are on par with that in Singapore so I didn't bother getting those, but there were a couple of products that were so cheap omg I cannot believe that it's just 1 hours drive from home.

Eric brought me to Optical 88 to try on some sunglasses as they were having 40% off storewide. This is probably the 5th shop we've been to and I finally found a pair of sunnies that I really liked and fit me well. To be honest, I didn't really see the need for a new pair sunglasses. But Eric insisted as we are going to the mountains in Europe and there would be a lot of glare from the snow. So since he wanted me to have the protection, he went and bought me the sunglasses. Isn't he the best?!? =D

After all the shopping I brought everyone to taman sri tebrau to have seafood dinner! Sadly, we had quite a bad experience there. :( Whilst the food was not bad, mum wasn't a fan. And one of the servers came right behind me with a hot plate without warning and I moved into the plate without realising it, thurs burning my elbow. :( it hurt the whole evening and is still hurting like mad. :( and to top it off, the guy charged us extra for CNY surcharge without telling us beforehand. The whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth and I wonder if I ever want to go back again. :/

Overall, it was still a pretty productive day and I'm really happy with my purchases. (: not to mention my oh-so-chio sunnies from my love. I am sucha lucky girl. (:

ZA True White Foundation

Hohoho here I am participating in another online competition! 

I took a picture with my ZA True White Liquid Foundation, currently my favourite foundation everrr! This one glides on smoothly and doesn't lump together like other brands I've used before. A big plus also it evens out my skin tone, making me look fairer hurhur.

What's up for grabs is a ZA True White Two-Way Foundation case.

I hope I win. They never mentioned what the judging criteria would be.. =/

Instagram update!

December has been a really hectic month and I'm just going to do a quick update on what's been going on with pictures that I already uploaded to instagram. :)

I was so happy to win this Kose Esprique hamper through a competition on facebook! I won a makeup base, an eyeshadow palette, blusher and lipgloss! I gave the gloss and the blusher to mum since she helped me collect the hamper heehee.

Here's the eyeshadow. SUPER GORGEOUS! I can't bear to use it! =/

And the winning photo.. We were supposed to use the Kose app give ourselves a virtual makeover.. and it totally doesn't look like me at all! HAHA! So lucky that I won! :D

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We celebrated Eric's birthday with his parents at Oscars @ Conrad hotel. This picture sums up the meal. We had oysters galore!!! They are the best I've ever eaten in Singapore! <333 p="p">

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Random OTD. Maxi from OhVola, necklace from Diva, and bag from River Island. (:

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December is the month of Christmas. Mum decorated the tree in white this year! Looking at this tree gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. I spent many nights helping my mum decorating this tree when I was much younger.

Gift from my boss! Super cute mummy speakers! (:

More gifts from other colleagues..

My gift to my colleagues! I thought the christmas baubles were a nice touch, in addition to the personalised cards! (:

My colleague baked this Chocolate cupcake with avocado frosting, but sadly I was too ill to eat it.

Unplanned matching outfits w bff! Red dress, black pumps, AND LEOPARD PRINT BELT!!

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Christmas log cake baked by Eric's mum. It's so frigging awesome! She should totally set up her own business! She uses only the best Valrhona chocolate. XD

My Christmas Party OTD. Strut Down The Runway Jumpsuit in Elfin Green from The Tinsel Rack. 

Us <3 p="p">

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We met up with a friend we made while trekking in Vietnam.. His name is Johan and he's from Sweden. We brought him out for meals for 2 days, walked down the whole of orchard road, and we only took this one pathetic picture together zzzz. 

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Come Post-Christmas sale and I went a bit nuts!! bought this pretty bag at 50% off from Accessorize! 

Matched it with a pair of shorts i got from  Love Bonito sale. The colour really complements the bag! heehee..

Random outfit I threw together... I bought the pants also from Love Bonito sale, and the clutch from Dorothy Perkins I've been eyeing since foreverrrrr got marked down from $79 to $39. XD 

Last random outfit, jacket and shoes marked down twice from Mango! <3 div="div">

 told you I went a little nuts.. and that's not even all.. =X

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At cross party, i got an exchange gift that I couldn't possibly use and was pretty disappointted. But Anne this sweetie swapped her gift with mine and totally made my day! Everytime i look at this bottle I think of her haha. 

My haul for the night heeehee. My team won the games there.. 

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Rarely get such a nice picture of my pretty girl looking at the camera. She's so old and precious..

I was walking back from the doctors when Eric asked me to wait for him whilst he went into the temple for a short while. It was all lit up, and I thought it was kinda pretty so i snapped a shot.. 

When I got home, jie was bringing them for a walk. So these are their excited faces! "YES WE ARE GOING FOR A WALKKKKK!"

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Had a dinner date with my love last Friday, and rounded it off with a Starbucks coffee. We stayed so late they had to chase us out and we couldn't find our way out of the building. O_O

My OTD in a deserted Ion. I'm actually wearing Jie's dress from River Island. (:

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This came in the mail last Friday. I'm so psyched for our Eurotrip!! Final plan, France and Germany! We aren't going Spain anymore coz it's too time consuming to travel there. :(((

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I got free cookies today XD

Last pic of the night... IT's been so hot lately so please everyone drink more water~!!